Periodically, teachers will bring you news and goings on in Grade 4. Here is the latest:
Students are already begining work on Exhibition #2…
Time and Space.
Look for an update soon!
Students are completing their bridge designs, buying materials from the warehouse and building their bridges. Each student performs one of four important roles in the project: architect, carpenter, accountant and construction manager. Every student is writing about their experience with the project in a journal and applying what they have practiced in math to construction and purchasing. In math class students are beginning work on multiplication and division, number sentences and algebra. In Global Studies, fourth graders have completed their research, graphic organizers, and first draft of their immigration stories. In Modern Languages, students, on their way to America, are learning to communicate as “immigrants” with a French immigration official. In Writing, students have been creating haunted stories in their writing journals, identifying homophones, and practicing dictionary skills. In Reading, students have complete “Sees Behind Trees,” a novel about a Native American boy’s passage to adulthood, and will begin reading “Hannah’s Journal,” a diary-like novel about a Russian girl’s journey to America.
Students have started writing stories in their writing journals as well as learning about “reading as thinking.” They are beginning to search for books in our classroom libraries and enjoying D.I.R.T. (Daily Independent Reading Time) during Advisory. The Traits of Writing and the Writing Process will be introduced shortly, with a focus on the Ideas and Organization traits. As for grammar, sentences, nouns, and verbs will be emphasized. Students have completed the NWEA testing in both reading and math.
Fourth graders have just begun our unit on “Many Dreams, One Nation,” which starts with understanding the lives of Native Americans – who are they? Where did they come from? How did they get to North America? What did they contribute to our American culture? In Reading, we are connecting this topic with the novel, “Sees Behind Trees,” by Michael Dorris.
As part of their first exhibition, fourth grade students will learn about immigration and will choose their countries of origin. Plans are under way for designing and building bridges and students are learning American Sign Language for their performance on exhibition night.
Students will be extending their ideas about data collection, organization, display, and analysis and reviewing procedures for addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers. After the Unit II assessment, 4th graders can look forward to working towards total recall of multiplication facts and using these facts to find basic division facts as well as learning a problem solving scheme to solve number stories and find mathematical models for more complicated problems. Students will also learn new algebra vocabulary.
Students are learning about energy as they experience hands-on science and work in lab groups to explore various forms of energy. Soon we will begin our study of bridges as we address the technology & engineering standards for fourth grade. Students will complete lab activities, use computer simulations, and watch a video to understand concepts involved in bridge building. As soon as students have completed their lab work, bridge companies will be formed and students will begin designing their own bridges.